Maha govt to bring out new textile policy soon

The Maharashtra government is likely to unveil a new textile policy that will include measures such as cotton-to-garment-manufacturing at a single point and reasonable electricity tariffs for setting up textile units.

State Textile Minister Chandrakant Patil told the Legislative Assembly that the new textile policy would address issues of high electricity tariff.

"As some members pointed out that the textile industry is more power-consuming and since the industrial tariff is very high in the state, textile industry is not getting a boost," Patil said while replying to budgetary demands of the textile ministry in the lower house.

Focus of the new policy would be on having "cotton to garment" at a single place and setting up more textile parks in the cotton-growing belt of the state, he said.

Education minister Vinod Tawde, while speaking on the debate for demands of his department, said the government was planning to adopt a private public partnership (PPP) model for setting up medical colleges in the state.

Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan said focus of his department would be to start small and medium projects and complete them at the earliest rather than investing in large projects.

"We will try to take up smaller projects and ensure that the water table increases," he said.